Child marriage often ends a girl’s education, exposes her to domestic violence and grave health risks from early childbearing and HIV. It also often traps her in poverty. It is something that occurs much too often and applies to all countries. Its even seen on an illegal level within the US though it is much less common. In a 2014 survey by Zimbabwe’s National Statistics Agency, one in three women ages 20 to 49 surveyed reported that they married before age 18. An estimated 4 percent marry before age 15, the survey found.

The African Union (AU) met this week in Lusaka, Zambia to talk about girls who have met an unfortunate fate where they have been in child marriages. Country representatives will discuss child marriage and efforts to get rid of it. Human Rights Watch interviewed a girl who was involved in a child marriage. This is what she said, “I feel very sad when I see small girls getting married. They don’t know the hard life that awaits them,” said Danira, who was married at age 14. “I wish I had gone to school.

Rahila Hameed Khan Durrani, MPA in Pakistan, called on the government on Monday to set up a separate department for the protection of children’s rights. She added that incidents of violence against children were being frequently reported and authorities have to take immediate action. She was addressing a topic that was discussed in the Quetta Press Club to mark the Universal Children’s Day on November 20th.

In an interview posted by the French news broadcast, Le Petit Journal, on Monday, a reporter asks a young French boy if he understands why terrorists attacked Paris on Friday, killing at least 129 people and injuring 350. As the interview continues, the boy mentions how he thinks that the attackers are just really mean and how he is afraid of the "mean" people since they cannot protect themselves. But as the interview progresses and the young boy talks to both the reporter and his father, he says with confidence, "They have guns, but we have flowers.".

More than 400,000 Syrian refugee children living in Turkey are not attending school. While the Turkish government has been generous in its response toward the Syrian refugee crisis, Turkey has struggled to ensure that Syrian schoolchildren have the access to education to which they are entitled under international law.

As Russia, Iran and Iraq join other countries in Vienna today to discuss the Syria crisis, all parties should agree to add one item to the agenda: ending the use of child soldiers. Of course, it is generally known that Islamic State (ISIS) engages in the practice, but they are not the only ones: Iraqi Shia militias fighting ISIS alongside Iraqi government forces are also using kids. Children are fighting every day in the battle field and dying as well. They should not be allowed to be exposed to such horrific things that happen out in battlefields.

In Krasnohorivka, a city of 15,000 people west of Donetsk in Ukrainian government-controlled territory, the only Ukrainian language school in the city, "School Number 3", was attacked back in June. Nikolayevna, the schools former principal, told Human Rights Watch about the events. On June 3, in the early morning, heavy artillery fire began from the direction of rebel-held territory. The shelling continued for 13 hours. There were 12 direct hits on the school, while more craters marked the school grounds. There was a military checkpoint around 700 meters from the school.

The Philippine government should immediately release the hundreds of mostly indigent and homeless Manila residents, including more than 140 children, detained before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. This is a part of so-called “clearing operations” aimed to beautify the city ahead of the summit, which will bring world leaders to Manila this month. Since November 9, local authorities have rounded up several hundred adults and children from streets and informal settlements in Manila and surrounding municipalities of Metro Manila. They have detained them without charges.

This past month has seen a sudden outburst of horrific attacks on ordinary people apparently committed by the self-described Islamic State, or ISIS. Between the attack in Paris, the bombs in Beirut, Baghdad, and Ankara, and the downing of a Russian airliner over the Sinai, we are seeing the use of violence against the general population to score political points. Nothing can justify these de#@$%able attacks. Their acts must all be brought to justice. Everyone can do their part to make sure ISIS does not go unpunished. They must be stopped. Here is one way we can help stop them.

With the rise of violent extremist groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and ISIS in the Middle East, horrible stories of young girls being kidnapped and forced to marry militants have made news headlines. But the problem of forced marriage is far more widespread than that. Forced marriage is a cultural practice that is found in a lot of countries. Forced marriage even occurs among immigrant groups in the United States and Europe.